From reductionism to integration: The evolving landscape of biological research

Abstract

For more than a century Biology has been progressing in the light of reductionism. We have broken down complex living systems into genes, proteins, cells and pathways, creating an amazing body of knowledge that is the basis of modern life sciences. There are few scientific strategies as fruitful, or as revolutionary. Reductionism has given clarity, precision, and mechanistic insight, and is essential to experimental rigor. But, the success of reductionist biology has created a turning point. The study of parts has become less of a way to help solve biological problems and more of a way to study parts that are tied to real-world problems, making it clearer than ever that knowledge of parts alone does not enable one to understand life as it exists in the real world. What we face is the problem of how to incorporate reductionism into a wider conceptual framework that accounts for interaction, dynamics and emergence. This piece contends that biology is not just expanding its method but evolving, from a purely ‘parts’ science to a ‘systems', 'relationships' and 'contexts' science.